If you are organising an event to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity, we encourage you to share your activities with us and everyone in your country. If you wish to see the information below in your official language, please send us a translation (.doc or .pdf) at iyb2010@cbd.int.

If you have videos and photos of your celebrations of the International Year of Biodiversity, please send them to us!

Partners

Elleniki Etairia - Society for the Environment & Cultural Heritage (EE) is a registered non profit organisation, founded in 1972. EE is active over the entire country and draws on members from all over Greece. EE has offices in Athens and Thessaloniki. It also has regional charters in many Greek areas, especially on Greek islands. EE’s main objectives are to:

Raise awareness among the Greek citizens, regarding the values of Greece’s rich cultural and natural heritage.

Contribute to research and actions regarding biodiversity conservation.

Contribute to the protection of architectural and historical heritage.

The European Centre for Environmental Research and Training of Panteion University is an eminent think tank on sustainable development and environmental issues. It was established on February 2002, based on the decision taken by the Senate of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. On a structural level, it belongs to the Department of International and European Studies, while at the same time it adheres in all research and educational activities of the Sector of International and European Institutions. It closely collaborates with academic institutions, Non Governmental Organizations, International Organizations and Entities of the Local Administration. It has been currently operating for 8 years and have achieved a high level of excellence in the fields of environmental training and climate change law.

The Network has been created in order to support the construction and implementation of the national node as the Greek contribution to the European Infrastructure of LIFEWATCH. It is funded by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT) and coordinated by the Institute of Marine Biology and Genetics (Hellenic Centre for Marine Research). Τhe networκ implements 5 interconnected Activities, mobilizes over 200 scientists, involves 49 research and academic bodies within 23 legal entities.

Founded in 1988, MEDASSET (Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles) is an international not for profit environmental NGO registered as a charity and private company in the UK and as a Non Profit Organisation in Greece. MEDASSET plays an active role in the study and conservation of sea turtles and their habitats throughout the Mediterranean, through scientific research, environmental education, political lobbying and raising public awareness. The organisation has been a Partner to the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of UNEP and a Permanent Observer-member of the Bern Convention at the Council of Europe since 1988.

The Natural History Museum of Crete (NHMC) is a department of the University of Crete (UoC). It pursues interest in: • Basic and applied research for the protection and conservation of the natural environment, of its biodiversity and of its endemic or rare forms of life. NHMC has spread its main scientific research on Crete and the rest of Greece but also all over the eastern Mediterranean area. • Management and conservation of natural ecosystems, especially of those that are threatened by human impact. • Development of complete collections of plants, animals, rocks and minerals and fossils. • Education and public environmental awareness and sensitivity.

PAN Parks welcomes the declaration of the International Year of Biodiversity as we also look to the opportunities triggered by natural succession and ecosystem dynamics to protect global biodiversity. In PAN Parks Wilderness areas, the priority is protecting ecosystem dynamics and supporting the protection of biodiversity - ecosystem dynamics link.

Many examples of this could be provided so a page on our website will be devoted to providing a collection of case studies, interviews, articles on the relation of wilderness and biodiversity and the PAN Parks efforts to protect biodiversity through wilderness protection.